In an inflation-anxious United States, a Chinese app named after a Silk Road city briefly became the second-most downloaded app last week—trailing only behind ChatGPT. It’s not for artificial intelligence. It’s not for gaming. It’s for handbags. DHgate, known as Dunhuang in Chinese, is a two-decade-old cross-border e-commerce platform that’s suddenly gone viral. American consumers, squeezed by looming price hikes triggered by escalating tariffs, are flocking to it for bargain yoga pants and Hermès dupes.

On TikTok, influencers are touting Dunhuang as the place to get Hermès-style bags “without playing the Hermès game,” claiming that many luxury goods are made in the very same Chinese factories. Behind the scenes, the app is launching a “tariff escort plan” to help its merchants ride the wave of demand. American shoppers are probing for workarounds—chasing bargain Chinese goods one download at a time.

In an inflation-anxious United States, a Chinese app named after a Silk Road city briefly became the second-most downloaded app last week—trailing only behind ChatGPT. It’s not for artificial intelligence. It’s not for gaming. It’s for handbags. DHgate, known as Dunhuang in Chinese, is a two-decade-old cross-border e-commerce platform that’s suddenly gone viral. American consumers, squeezed by looming price hikes triggered by escalating tariffs, are flocking to it for bargain yoga pants and Hermès dupes.

On TikTok, influencers are touting Dunhuang as the place to get Hermès-style bags “without playing the Hermès game,” claiming that many luxury goods are made in the very same Chinese factories. Behind the scenes, the app is launching a “tariff escort plan” to help its merchants ride the wave of demand. American shoppers are probing for workarounds—chasing bargain Chinese goods one download at a time.

The Dunhuang phenomenon isn’t just a quirky tale of a Chinese app enjoying its 15 minutes of fame. It’s a mirror reflecting the deepening complexity of global commerce—and how policy tools are forever chasing, and lagging behind, the new realities that it creates.

Tariffs were meant to penalize unfair trade practices and shift supply chains. But in practice, they’ve made domestic........

© Foreign Policy